


hurry boy (she's waiting there for you)

by vivilove



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Airports, Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, Birthday, F/M, Idiots in Love, Love Confessions, Mutual Pining, Romantic Fluff, with a wee bit of angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-19
Updated: 2018-10-19
Packaged: 2019-08-04 04:57:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,392
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16340228
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vivilove/pseuds/vivilove
Summary: The party had been a birthday celebration but also a good-bye.  Sansa was leaving out, 12:30 flight back home to a new job that would lead to a great career.  Flying out and leaving him behind.“You could come with me,” she’d said over coffee three weeks ago.  Her smile had been so warm and inviting before she’d dropped her blue eyes back down to her mug and idly traced her finger along the rim.  “We could find a two-bedroom to share.  There’s plenty of job opportunities up there.”He could.  How often had they talked about going home again?  He missed home.  He was going to miss her even more.“Nah, I’m okay here.  Couldn’t leave your brother to his own devices here for too long, could I?” he’d answered instead…like a coward.





	hurry boy (she's waiting there for you)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kattyshack](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kattyshack/gifts), [Castalya](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Castalya/gifts), [Dena1984](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dena1984/gifts).



> A little sweet romantic fluff for three lovelies who've celebrated b-days this month!
> 
> For Kat who has an awesome birthday that coincides with a special anniversary of mine and who is also a marshmallow like me who can only handle minimal angst for our darling babies! And thank you for letting me borrow the title from one of your fics. We have excellent taste in music ;)
> 
> For Castalya who is funny and kind and always leaves such lovely comments. I'm probably butchering it but Buon Compleanno! (even if I'm a few days late)
> 
> And for Dena1984 for being a sweetheart and also being a super supportive commenter. Thank you, honey :)

 

All the guests had gone home. The colorful balloons had all risen to the ceiling of the flat, freed from their little anchors that Jeyne had set up when she’d been decorating earlier. By morning, they’d have all drifted back down to Earth, probably as dejected looking as Jon Snow felt right now.

The party had been a birthday celebration but also a good-bye. Sansa was leaving out, 12:30 flight back home to a new job that would lead to a great career. Flying out and leaving him behind.

 _“You could come with me,_ ” she’d said over coffee three weeks ago. Her smile had been so warm and inviting before she’d dropped her blue eyes back down to her mug and idly traced her finger along the rim. _“We could find a two-bedroom to share. There’s plenty of job opportunities up there.”_

He could. How often had they talked about going home again? He missed home. He was going to miss her even more.

 _“Nah, I’m okay here. Couldn’t leave your brother to his own devices here for too long, could I?”_ he’d answered instead…like a coward.

As if Robb Stark needed looking after. Robb had a good job. Robb had a girlfriend. Jeyne was going to move in soon.

Jon had a bedroom in their shared loft and a job he couldn’t care less about. The third bedroom would remain empty for now, he supposed.

Sansa had taken a final sip of her caramel macchiato after his response and then suddenly remembered an appointment she’d forgotten.

He’d offered to drive her but she’d declined. _“Oh, I wouldn’t want to trouble you. You’re obviously comfortable here.”_ There’d been a change of tone he hadn’t known how to interpret. Looking back, he thought it was somewhere between frosty and wounded.

He was bold enough in other ways. Why was he rendered so hesitant when it came to her? Why did his pulse become erratic and his body break out in a cold sweat at the thoughts of showing her what was in his heart?

He didn’t know how this day had crept up on him so quickly…or how he’d let so much time go by without saying one damned word about how he really felt.

It seemed like only yesterday, she’d moved into the flat shared by him and Robb when she’d broken up with her boyfriend. But that had been nearly a year ago. A year where they’d went from acquaintances to best friends. A year where she’d gone from Robb’s gorgeous sister to the woman Jon loved with all his heart. A year of almosts, not quites and so closes.

Jon glanced over at the sofa where they’d been watching movies together the other night till they both fell asleep. He’d woke up with Sansa in his arms. He’d stroked the soft silk of her fiery locks as she’d continued to sleep and wished it could always be that way. Actually, he’d wished it could be that way and much, much more.

Now, Robb and Jeyne were snuggled up there. Robb’s hand was creeping up Jeyne’s side and Jon figured he’d worn out his welcome.

“I’m turning in. Good night,” he called to them before heading down the hallway.

Habit made him stop outside her room. Every night, he’d stop by and wish her goodnight, barring those nights when they’d fall asleep together on the sofa.

There was no Sansa cuddled up under her blue and yellow comforter with a book, smiling at him so sweetly and looking ethereal in the glow of her bedside lamp. The room was dark. The bed had been stripped bare. Everything was boxed and waiting to be shipped North tomorrow.

She wasn’t in their shared bathroom either, sitting on the counter and painting her toenails. He couldn’t tease her about hogging all the counterspace anymore with her fripperies and products till she threatened to paint his toenails too. All her things were gone except one bottle of black nail polish she’d bought him as a joke months ago.

_“In case you ever want to take a walk on the wild side, Jon Snow.”_

She wasn’t in his room, asking for advice on her latest design even though he didn’t know the first damn thing about fashion. She just asked to be nice.

_“No, I don’t. I ask because I value your opinion and I know you won’t lie to me if you hate it.”_

_“I have been known to sugar-coat things for you,”_ he’d smirked.

_“That’s just you being sweet. You won’t lie if you don’t like my dress.”_

_“No, I won’t lie. I love your dress.”_

But it had been a lie in a sense. It wasn’t the dress he loved. What he should’ve been saying is, I love you. Would that have been so hard?

He sat down on his bed and put his head in his hands. What kind of fool was he to let a chance with a woman like Sansa slip by? When had he become such a craven?

 _“Happy Birthday, Sansa,”_ he’d murmured tonight when they’d found themselves alone in their little kitchen for half a heartbeat.

They’d been hugging. She’d been crying, telling him how much she’d miss him. He’d been crying a bit, too.

But when they’d pulled back from the hug, there was no hiding the hunger he felt for her and he allowed himself to believe for once that it was reflected in her eyes.

The minute passed though and he’d made no move and soon enough some friends were invading the kitchen, looking for the birthday girl.

The party had ended and Sansa had left for the airport. And Jon had never taken a chance.

He sighed miserably and regretted the fear that had kept him from trying. As if he’d already lived them, he could see the years stretching out before of him, years of vain attempts to fill her place in his heart with someone else and hearing about her falling in love with some other man. A very grim future.

What was it Thoreau had said? Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and die with their song still inside them. Was that to be his fate? Or could he still change it?

In an attempt to distract the melancholic flow of his thoughts, he turned on some music. The second he heard it, he pictured her sitting in the passenger seat of his car.

 _“Weezer or Toto?”_ she’d ask in that playful tone of hers.

He’d roll his eyes and reply, _“Respect the classics, Stark. Toto.”_

Then, she’d be singing the words with animated expressions and her hair would shine like copper in the sunlight.

_‘Hurry boy, she’s waiting there for you…_

_It’s going to take a lot to drag me away from you_

_There’s nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do_

_I bless the rains down in Africa…’_

And in that moment, Jon Snow knew exactly what he had to do.

 

* * *

 

 

They’d offered to drive her and keep her company before her flight but she had turned them down. There was only one person she’d have said yes to but he wasn’t the one asking. No need for everyone to be kept up waiting with her.

Sansa Stark stifled a yawn and stared at the departure sign, waiting impatiently for it to signal that her flight had begun boarding. It wasn’t that she was all that eager to go but once she boarded maybe one door would close and another could open. She figured she was fooling herself there. It would be a long time before she could let go of him in her heart.

Despite everyone’s efforts with the party tonight, this was turning into the worst birthday but it was nearly done. She wanted to be glad she was going home but she couldn’t help feeling like she was leaving her home behind.

_Is home a place or a person?_

She knew what her answer to that question was but he clearly didn’t feel the same. It wasn’t as if there hadn’t been moments when she thought maybe something might finally shift between them, move them beyond friendship to something else. He wasn’t seeing anyone. He hadn’t even gone out on a date in six months. It’d been a year since she’d broken up with Harry but Jon hadn’t made one move. Apparently, he never would.

Tonight, when he’d been holding her in the kitchen and the tears were still clinging to their eyelashes, she’d thought…but no. The moment had passed just like so many before them.

Maybe she should’ve done more to express her interest but she’d never been all that forward by nature. It sure would’ve been nice to feel like a good guy thought she was worth chasing for a change instead of just another skirt-chaser.

She was going to miss Robb and Jeyne but she was going to miss living with Jon more than anything. He’d become her best friend on top of her crush the past several months.

All those lazy Sunday mornings bickering over the crossword puzzle, all those nights watching movies together when she’d fall asleep knowing she’d wake with his strong arms around her. How was she supposed to do without that now?

All those shopping trips to the market where the check-out lady would smile indulgently at them as they quibbled over coupons and he’d ask if she had enough lemons to make her lemoncakes.

 _“Where’s your boyfriend?”_ she’d asked the last time Sansa had gone shopping without him.

 _“At home,”_ she’d answered as naturally as could be…and then fought back tears on the way home.

Jon just wasn’t interested in being more than her friend. She’d come to accept it. But even when the job offer had come up, she’d hesitated.

He’d looked so bereft when she’d told him and Robb about it at last. She thought surely he might say something. But he never did. He only said he knew she’d be terrific and how lucky her new employer would be to have her.

She was shipping most of her belongings and only had one carry-on. Tomorrow night, she’d be at her parents’ house. Then, she could start looking for a new place of her own. A one-bedroom with no roommate to pine over. It would be lonely.

The message board changed and it was time to head to her gate. She sighed and grabbed her bag. Her heart felt like a dull, heavy thing in her chest.

“Sansa!”

Her name was not a common one but more than that, she would know his voice anywhere. She whipped her head around this way and that. Suddenly, her heart sprung back to life and felt like it was as full of helium as the balloons at her party had been earlier. It pounded with a mixture of disbelief and hope.

“Sansa!” he shouted again as she spied him.

Jon was sprinting through the airport with a rucksack over his shoulder, looking frantically at every face he came upon. There was also a security officer chasing him.

_Oh, God!_

He hadn’t seen her yet. She raced towards him. She could tell the very moment he saw her and she could tell in that moment that he had come for the very reason she hoped he had.

“Sir! You can’t just…”

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” he hollered over his shoulder at the security officer. “I found her! I’m…I’m sorry,” he said to her softly, his dark eyes searching her face fearfully. “I hope I’m not too late.”

“My flight is boarding,” she whispered, mindful of their audience.

“I have a ticket.” He held it up to show her. The security officer stared at them both, shook his head and walked away.

“Were you going somewhere?” she asked.

Jon adjusted his glasses and scrubbed at his beard. “Sansa, I’ve been a fool and a coward for too long. I don’t want you to go but I don’t want you to stay here either. You’re going to be the best fashion designer the North has ever seen. And, if it’s not too late…I’d like to come with you.”

“Alright…”

“I’d like to come with you because I love you, Sansa. I love you and I wish I’d said it a thousand times before tonight.” All the air seemed to leave her lungs in a great whoosh at his declaration. “And if you don’t love me back, then I can respect that but I hope you’ll give me…”

She didn’t let him finish as she grasped his jacket and pulled him close. He dropped his bag and his hands went to her waist. If her heart had been pounding earlier, it was thundering like mad now.

“I love you, too.”

He did not smile all the time but he did more with her than anyone else. And Sansa had fallen in love with every single one of those smiles over the past year. But this smile, when she told him that she loved him…it put all the others to shame.

She felt him tugging her closer. Their mouths were inches apart and she was still grasping his jacket. She could feel the heat of him radiating through the cloth. Their eyes flitting between each other’s lips and eyes.

Like the deep breath she’d drew before she’d blown out her candles earlier, she waited and hoped that wishes still might come true. He did not disappoint her. His head tilted to the side and he pressed his lips to hers, slow at first and then hungrily. It had been the best birthday after all.

Someone passed by and wolf whistled at them. They broke apart, blushing but smiling at each other.

“We should…” She gestured at their bags.

“Yeah.” He stooped and picked up both their bags and offered her his hand. “Gate 7?”

“Lucky number 7 and then home.” She bit her lip. “Jon, I’ve been waiting for…”

“I know. I realize it now. I wish I could kick my own ass for making you wait and leaving you wondering. I’m sorry. I was afraid of screwing up and…”

That was all she needed to hear. “It’s alright. You came for me tonight.”

“A hundred men couldn’t have stopped me, darling.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> Title and lyrics from 'Africa' by Toto.


End file.
